Panaji, June 10: Youth of the country need to be given a direction so that India can reap its demographic dividend, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi said here Sunday.

"If the youth are not given a direction, there will be problems. They march to Jantar Mantar on so many issues because the government has not paid attention to them," Modi said in his first address after being appointed the head of the party's election campaign committee for the general elections in 2014.

"India has the world's youngest population. If there is a young son at home, the family feels happy, but the government today feels the youth of the nation are a burden," Modi said.

He also cornered the central government on women's safety.

"Women today have aspirations to participate in nation building, they have independent thoughts. Our mothers and sisters consist 50 percent of the population, but the Congress-led government at the centre does not have the time to think about them," he said.

Modi said the central government was just not serious about the people.